Recipe: Southwest Quinoa

With the long weekend coming up, my coworkers and I decided we wanted to grill for lunch this afternoon. We had a nice array of fajitas including chicken, strip steak and chorizo complimented by red and green peppers, red onion, cheese, sour cream, salsa and guacamole. I brought in chips and made southwest quinoa.

Southwest Quinoa

1 cup quinoa

1.5 cups water

1 can organic black beans

2 ear corn (grilled and kernels cut from cob), or 1 can of corn

1/2 red pepper (diced)

1/4 red onion (diced)

1/4 cup cilantro (chopped)

avocado halved

1 lime, halved

salt, to taste if necessary

Boil 1 cup quinoa with 1.5 cups water. Once boiling, turn heat low and simmer the quinoa for 15-20 minutes, or until all water is absorbed. Drain, if necessary

Meanwhile, drain the can of black beans and corn (if not using cobs) and set aside. If using cobs, grill/char then cut corn from the cob. Dice peppers and onion and chop cilantro.

Mix the quinoa, black beans, corn, peppers, onion, cilantro, and avocado in a large bowl.

This can be used as either a side or a main dish as it’s filling and full of goodness. My very first experience with quinoa was this recipe just a few weeks ago. It’s not as scary as I thought it to be. Yummy and full of protein! Next food challenge: kale.